Gimme Shelter
by Jax Malou
Summary: This story picks up after the final episode ends, assuming Spike had lived. Syndicate warfare breaks out and brings the Bebop gang back together.
1. Life afterlife

"Spike."

            The voice kept whispering his name, the echoes of his past reverberating with it.. Spike heard it over and over, ringing like a church bell in his head, or whatever part of his being could still hear. The funny thing was, he felt no different than he had when he was alive, except for the pain. That was going to take some getting used to. _I thought you weren't supposed to feel pain anymore once you were dead, he thought. _

            He could still feel Julia's last breath on his face, and he wondered whether or not he would be reunited with her in death as he had always hoped he would. But then again, they probably didn't end up going to the same place.

            "Spike."

            There it was again. Was it really her? Was she trying to find him? Or maybe it was his memory playing tricks on him. Either way, he wished it would just let him rest. _I just died a violent, traumatic death here, he thought__. Can't I just have a few minutes of rest in the afterlife?_

            And then the visions came again. Spike had always heard that one saw bright lights ahead when they died, but he didn't understand why they were arranged in rows rather than just one big light which one used as a guide into the hereafter. Spike groaned and looked left, only to be surprised by yet more lights and a faint beeping noise that he couldn't place.

            Before he could wonder exactly what it was, he saw her walking toward him. His vision was blurry, but he was sure it was Julia. She wore white, her blonde hair tied back. He must have made it to Heaven after all, he decided. After all, angels wore white, didn't they?

            As she approached, Spike waited for his eyes to focus. He couldn't make out what she was holding or why she seemed to be wearing glasses. He thought he should at least be able to see clearly in death, but all was a blur. He reached out to his beloved, but before he could call out to her, she had turned and gone away. Confused, Spike rubbed his eyes. Death sure was confusing. He stirred and looked to his right, his eyes slowly focusing until he saw something… _someone he didn't expect to see. _

            Faye hated jobs like this. Stuck for hours in her _Redtail, with nothing to do but watch the radar. The bounty head would be by in due time, Jet had assured her. All she had to do was follow him, wait for him to land and bring him in. He wouldn't put up a fight. This guy was supposed to be a shrimp, she remembered, but still worth ten and a half million woolongs. Not bad change for a little weasel named Serj Harashi who had just stolen a little information._

            Faye looked down at her hands. Her nails were a mess. The blood-red polish she liked to wear had all but chipped off, and two of the nails were cracked. She could just bite them off, she thought, like Ed. _Old weird Edward, she thought to herself. __I wonder where she is right now, what she's up to. Faye smiled to herself. The crew on the __Bebop wasn't so bad. At least she felt like she belonged somewhere when she was there. As much as she hated to admit it to herself, she cared about all of them. That was why she was saddened at the realization that Edward was gone. That was why she had cried for Spike._

            The blip on the radar screen snapped Faye back to reality. She blinked hard and checked the heading on the monitor. She locked on its signal and asked the computer for an ID. A Martian-made C-Class MONO racer. Just what she was looking for.

            Faye started the engines and began to slowly pitch forward. He was going pretty fast, so she would need to have some momentum going to stay on his tail. She knew he would be headed for Carces, a small satellite of Mars, but Jet hadn't told her why. _No point in calling him now to ask, she decided._

            She steered the _Redtail_ down toward Mars, gaining speed as she got closer to its orbit. If she timed it right, she could slingshot around the planet and end up right behind the bounty head. 

            The radar beeped faster, telling her she'd better get a move on. Faye hit the accelerator on the Redtail and felt the aft end rise up as she gained speed. The controls were stiff, thanks to Jet's repairs, and the force of Mars' gravity made the instruments shake as she raced around the orbit. She looked down at the radar again. Serj was getting closer. A few more seconds and she'd be able to see him. 

            Faye had to be careful not to get too close, or she'd burn up as the gravity pulled her in. The _Redtail _was a sturdy cruiser, but it wasn't built for testing the atmosphere of a planet like Mars, especially when cutting across the surface as she was. She tried to pull up a bit, but much to her annoyance, the gravity had sucked her in more than she'd anticipated. She was gaining speed way too fast.

            "Aah, damn it!" Faye cried, trying to pull up as gently as possible. It wasn't working.

            "Come on, goddamn it," she said aloud, glancing at her radar just long enough to notice that Serj was almost in sight range. 

            As the _Redtail _came around for a full orbit, Faye knew she didn't have many options. If she didn't break orbit now, the gravity would keep forcing her around and down until she went into a spin and lost control – or simply burned up in orbit. The radar was beeping almost continuously now, sounding more like a heart monitor flatlined than a tracking device. She was going to lose this guy if she didn't do something fast.

            Finally, Faye jerked up on the controls and fired her landing exhaust, hoping the blast of air from under the ship would push her up and out of the orbit. The _Redtail _jerked up, but Faye gasped as she realized she'd forgotten to let go of the throttle. She was no longer in orbit of the planet, but now she was headed right toward the bounty head at thirty times the speed of sound. For a moment, Faye could see the horrified expression on Serj's face as he did the only thing there was time left to do – brace for impact.


	2. Bad dreams

_Almost four days now, Jet Black thought to himself. He'd never been off the Bebop this long before. Faye probably left a mess in the forward lounge. The thought of dirty pantyhose hanging from his furniture made him cringe as he read a 1950s pulp novel. What a cool time it must have been back in those days on Earth, Jet thought to himself. Too bad life couldn't be that simple now._

            Spike groaned and rolled over, the first time Jet had seen him move. Jet leaned forward as his partner's eyes opened wider and focused on him.

            "Oh, you decided to finally wake up, huh?" Jet asked.

            "What the…"

            "Yeah," Jet interrupted, "You've been out almost four days."

            Spike's eyes weren't fooling him, he decided. It really was Jet, which could only mean one thing. "So I guess I'm not dead," Spike mumbled. "Either that or spending eternity with you is my personal hell."

            Jet laughed. "Spike, my boy, you gave us quite a scare, bud. Thought we'd really lost you this time."

            "Shit," spike moaned. He tried to sit up before the pain in his abdomen convinced him to stay still. "What is this place?" he asked, holding up the tubes and wires that were connected to his arm at one end and went into a machine monitoring his vital signs at the other.

            "Medical frigate," Jet replied. "Kind of a crooked outfit here, but it was the closest I could find where no one would find us."  
            "Who are we supposed to be hiding from?"

            "Did all that sleep give you amnesia? The Red Dragons are after you," Jet explained, leaning forward in his chair. "You killed their leader, and now, everything's up for grabs. Word is, there's a power struggle going on, and you're tops on the hit list."

            It all came back to Spike in a rush as his friend continued. "The Dragons need a leader, what's left of them anyway. The captains and soldiers you didn't kill are gunning for you, since taking out the guy that killed Vicious is the best way to stake a claim on leadership of the syndicate."

            "Oh, shit,"

            "Uh-huh. It's never a dull moment with you around, bud. You're lucky I'm a nice guy."

            "Pull up!"

            Serj again yelled to the ship that was headed toward him. It wasn't moving, and it wasn't responding, either. But it was going extremely fast. Before Serj had time to call again, he instinctively pushed down on the controls to try to get out of its way. The craft shot overhead with only feet to spare. His reflexes almost hadn't been fast enough.

            "Who's after me now?" Serj thought to himself, slumping forward in his seat. He had thought this would be easier. Get the disk and take it to the Mohishau and get paid. After that, he figured he'd be able to hide out in the outer rim. Of course, his timing couldn't have been much worse. He knew word of the disc being stolen would get around quickly, so he planned to hide out somewhere close until the heat was off. With everyone out looking for him, the best thing to do was to stay still. However, how could he have known that everyone would already be out hunting for Spike Spiegel? Running from a pack of wolves was a lot easier when you at least had a head start.

            Serj didn't know who would be running the Red Dragons after Vicious' little plan failed, but he knew that killing him would be the first way to assert one's authority. "That," he thought to himself, "Is why I cannot get caught."

            As he relaxed in his seat, Serj kept his glance forward. "I think I've lost them for now," he thought as he stared straight ahead. Had he checked his radar, he would have seen that the same vehicle that had almost smashed into him had righted itself and was now on his tail.


	3. Small fries

Faye just wondered what this guy could have done to merit ten and a half million woolongs. He didn't look too tough in the pictures she'd seen. And he hadn't killed anyone, so why was his bounty so high? Any time someone had a large bounty for a small offense, it was because of the danger factor in bringing them in. And she didn't like the sound of that, especially by herself.

            _Damn it, Spike, would you just heal already?_ Faye thought as she tried to stay far enough away to be inconspicuous.

            "Where's Faye?"

            Spike grunted with pain as he pushed himself up to a sitting position with his elbows. If he was awake, he hated lying down, at least when he was alone.

            Jet stood and looked out the window. "She's out after a bounty head. Small-time hacker with a big bounty. She said she could handle it alone."

            "And you trust her not to just split when she gets the guy?"

            "She promised," Jet said over his shoulder. "Besides, she knows the safest place for now is the _Bebop_." The Red Dragons knew who Spike had been working with.

            "But there can't be much of the Red Dragons left," Spike argued. "Some soldiers, maybe…" 

            "One of their Capos is in the best position to take control," Jet interrupted. "ISSP gave me some info on the guy." Jet took a printout from inside his book and handed it to Spike. "His name is Shinjo Sasaki. A rival of Vicious with a little more subtle approach." 

            Spike examined the photo and profile of the man. Spike had been out of the syndicate for more than three years now, but he still knew who most of the heavy hitters were. This man, however, Spike did not know. His profile had no record of him after his birth until two years ago, when he was wanted somewhere on Earth for armed theft. 

            "This guy prefers to let his thugs do the dirty work," Jet went on. "He's never been implicated personally in any murder, but ISSP thinks he's bumped off a few people in the underworld himself."  

            "That would explain the fast rise," Spike said. "I've never seen this guy, Jet. Never heard of him."

            "You've been out three years," Jet said. "The syndicates don't operate the same anymore. The elders of the Red Dragons got soft before Vicious took them out, so it doesn't take as long to come up through the ranks anymore. And who knows what he's done that isn't in that report. ISSP says the syndicates were on the verge of war anyway, and now that the Red Dragons are down, everything is up for grabs."

            Spike looked at his partner and wondered how the hell Jet knew so much about the syndicates. "Sounds like you've been doing your homework, Jet."

            "You've been asleep four days," Jet said, picking up his book. "I haven't had anything to do here but read."

            Faye kept her distance behind the man as she followed him in the rain through the streets on Carces. Faye kept her sunglasses on and smoked a cigarette. There sun was usually blocked out by clouds on Carces, caused by the mixture of the old gases of Mars' atmosphere and the increased oxygen near the asteroids caused by the hyperspace gate accident. The nitrogen level in the air on Carces was so high that it often rained. _This rain will burn your skin if you stay out in it long enough, _Faye reminded herself. _I better get this guy before this place ruins my hair._

            Serj was about thirty feet ahead of her. He was carrying a briefcase with both hands as he walked nervously through the street. He looked as though he was afraid the case would explode if he dropped it, Faye thought. Whatever he had hacked out of the Transit Authority database must have been in there. The bounty said Serj had stolen some information about the toll money collected from the hyperspace gate. Such information was worth a lot to the syndicates, Faye thought. That explained the size of the bounty. Increased chance of danger with the syndicates looking for this guy too.

            Serj looked around nervously as he walked. He knew someone who wanted him dead was surely close. Maybe everyone did. When you were on the run, you had to suspect everyone was after you. He mostly kept his head down, turning his head slightly as he looked around him, still not noticing the young woman in yellow and red behind him. He ducked into an alley and walked faster. _If anyone is after me, I should try to lose them,_ Serj thought. Faye nearly had to run to catch up with him, but he didn't notice her. 

            Serj turned down another alley and came to the door of a small shop. Faye ducked behind the corner as she watched him go inside. She pulled her pistol from her ankle and made sure it was loaded. She also looked around before she slowly opened the door and headed into the building. 

            Serj dodged hanging chimes and other crafts as he walked to the counter of the antique shop. A middle-aged woman looked up from filing her nails to notice the nervous man. "Can I help you?" she asked.

            "Uh, yeah," Serj replied, avoiding eye contact. "I need to see Layne. Layne Cantrell. My name's Serj. He's expecting me."

            The woman looked at a scrap of paper on the counter before nodding. "Go on back. His office is upstairs to the right."

            Serj walked up the stairs and turned down the hallway to Cantrell's office. It was Cantrell wanted the evidence against the Red Dragons. Cantrell was actually on the payroll of the Mohishau syndicate, who had picked the perfect time to plot a smear campaign on a rival syndicate. Cantrell was supposed to tell Serj where to take the evidence and collect his fee. Cantrell was a money launderer an informant for the syndicate, but he never dealt with any syndicate members in his shop. He was just the messenger.

            Serj approached the door, which was opened slightly, and knocked. "Hello?" Serj said, pushing the door open just enough to see the man Cantrell sitting upright at his desk, with blood dripping from his cut throat into his coffee.


	4. If it wasn't for bad luck

Faye kept her handgun in the sleeve of her red jacked as she entered the shop. She hadn't gotten far when the woman from the counter called out from behind a nearby aisle. "You need somethin', honey?"

            "Yeah," Faye said as sweetly as possible. "Did you see a guy with a gray suit and a briefcase, kinda nervous-looking?" 

            "Oh, yeah," the woman said. "I just sent him upstairs."

            "Thanks a bunch."

            Faye had already begun to rush toward the stairs before she heard the woman yell for her to stop. Once she got to the bottom of the stairs, she was startled by the sight of the very man she was after sprinting in the opposite direction. 

            "Hey!" Faye exclaimed as she raised her gun. Serj's eyes widened as he saw the gun and tried to stop, but his foot slipped on the step and he slid down the stairs. Faye accidentally let off a round into the stairs above Serj as he fell directly on top of her.

            Faye pushed the man's foot off her face and reached for her restraints. "You must be Serj," she said.

            "Who the hell are you?" Serj asked, crawling backward toward the steps. "You with the syndicate?" 

            "I'm just a nice young girl with a crush on that big bounty pricetag that's over your head," Faye said, batting her eyes seductively at the man.

            "There's a bounty on me?" Serj exclaimed. "Those bastards! They double-crossed me!" Before Faye could react, Serj jumped to his feet and scrambled toward the door. "I've got to get out of here!"

            "Wait! Hey!" Faye said as she stood to go after him. Serj ran toward the shop's front door when he saw the armed men getting out of the car outside and stopped in his tracks. Faye heard Serj's gasp as she turned and looked up.

            Faye grabbed the fear-paralyzed man and dragged him down before the bullets shattered the shop's windows. Faye pulled Serj behind the corner near the staircase and drew her pistol. "Syndicate slugs! _They're_ after you, too?" she asked as she returned fire.

            "What do we do?" Serj asked.

            "What do you mean _we_?" Faye asked incredulously. "I don't know what you're going to do, but I'm getting the hell out of here!" Faye fired twice and sprinted up the stairs.

            "Wait, please!" Serj yelled as he scrambled after her. The syndicate soldiers jumped through the shattered windows into the store in pursuit. Faye looked around at the top of the stairs before seeing a large window at the end of the hall. She sprinted toward it and shattered it with a few rounds of gunfire. The window was directly over the street.

            "What are you doing?" said Serj as he ran up behind her.

            "Get lost, will ya?" Faye said. "I'll be lucky to save my own ass without you tagging along."

            "But I can't hide from them! Please take me with you!" Serj begged. "I have information in this case worth thirty million. I'll split it with you if you take me with you."

            Faye paused at the statement and looked over her shoulder. "Thirty million?" she asked as a syndicate soldier reached the top of the stairs. Faye turned and fired three shots into the man's midsection.

            She looked down to see a large truck coming down the street. "You better not be lying," she said as she grabbed Serj's collar and jumped out the window.

            "Uh, Jet?"

            Spike glanced over as he watched the television monitor on the wall. "How am I supposed to pay for this hospital visit?" 

            "Don't worry," Jet said. "ISSP is paying for your medical bills under the table as a reward for taking Vicious out. They knew he was a cop killer but could never prove it." __

            "So Vicious really is dead…" Spike looked down and recalled that final duel with his friend and enemy. He remembered getting a shot off and being cut by Vicious' blade, but couldn't remember whether or not he got him. The pain he felt as he leaned forward reminded him of how deep his own wound was.

            "Yep, and you almost were too," Jet said. "We never would have found you if not for that tracker Ed designed a while back." 

            "How'd you get me back here?" 

            "Faye went and got you. She went after you a few minutes after you left. She flew right into the roof and picked you up. She insisted on finding you a hospital as soon as she brought you in."

            Spike raised an eybrow in surprise. "_Faye _did that?"

            "Yeah. I never saw her so concerned about someone. Let alone you."

            "I guess you learn somethin' new every day," Spike said.


	5. No rest for the weary

"Stay down, you moron!" Faye didn't like babysitting others when people were trying to kill her. Serj stayed face down on top of the truck as Faye emptied her handgun at the car full of syndicate men that was following them.

            "My ship's over that way," she said, pointing to the distance. "Where's yours?" 

            "Over there," Serj gestured to the racer as the truck passed it, with pursuers in tow. "I guess I'll just have to ride with you." He examined Faye and smiled to himself. 

            "Oh great," Faye said. "I don't have enough _room _for two people!" She fired a few more rounds toward the car and ducked a banner hung across the street.

            The truck made a hard right as Faye and Serj held on. Faye found herself wondering how the driver of the truck could have kept driving with gunfire all around him. It must have been a common occurrence in these parts.

            The two held on to the truck's roof as Faye crawled toward the back. The men in the car were obviously syndicate men, dressed in suits and carrying automatic weapons. She creeped to the edge of the truck, dangerously close to being an easy target, and fired two shots toward the car's right front tire. The satisfying sound of the wheel's rims connecting with the pavement as the tire separated from the rim gave her reassurance that they would have at least some time to escape. The car then jerked violently to the right and then swerved left as the driver tried to overcorrect, right into the path of an oncoming truck carrying a load of live chickens in its flatbed. Faye smiled as she saw a shower of feathers rain upon the gangsters, who were laying either unconscious or dead on the pavement, thrown from the vehicle. Syndicate types never wore safety belts.

            Sleep was something Spike would have grown tired of long ago were there anything else he was capable of doing. The wound from cut he had received needed over a thousand stitches and staples to close, and it was deep enough to have been the muscular equivalent of major abdominal surgery. In short, it hurt too much to move.

            Spike slept, again dreaming of Julia in a white dress. _Why white? _Spike wondered as he dreamt. Every time now, he was having the same dream. Julia approaching in white, walking toward Spike like an angel, but fading away before he could reach out and touch her. Spike didn't even know if he was still grieving or just saddened because the idea, the _concept _of being with his one true love who had, in truth, brought him nothing but bad luck, was no longer a possibility. The idea that it was possible that he could be with Julia and be forever content had always been the thing that made his heart hold out hope.

            That was what had motivated him before, except for mere survival, that is. Now, survival was it. _Survival was probably the only thing I ever really had to begin with, _Spike thought. _That and everything on  the _Bebop. Too bad Faye liked to disappear often and Edward had gone and taken Ein with her. It would feel strange. He grunted to himself. Maybe kids, animals and women with attitudes weren't so bad after all.

            Spike slipped into another dream. Julia faded away once again, and this time, she didn't fade back into view. Spike was lying in a large bed, an old-fashioned four-post bed, like they used hundreds of years ago on earth. Satin sheets, pillows all around. Spike could see himself lying there, his arm behind his head as he lay awake, his eyes pointed toward the infinite ceiling.

            But there was something different about this dream. Spike wasn't alone. The woman's naked body wrapped around him like a snake, one leg slung over his waist with an arm holding on tightly as if clinging to him for protection and sanctuary, but at the same time resting like nothing could harm her, whoever "she" was. The woman's head rested on his chest, with the straight, black hair obscuring her face. Spike looked down to the footboard of the bed and stared at the red sash draped across the end of the bed. _Julia never wore red_, Spike thought, as the woman's eyes opened and she looked directly at him. "Spike," the voice whispered. "I love you."

            As the woman leaned forward to kiss him, Spike got the feeling he was being licked instead of kissed. Spike opened his eyes to see only a dog's tongue as it bathed him in drool.

            "Ah," Spike said, shaking his head and pushing the dog away. "Ein, knock it off," he said, not yet realizing who he was talking to. 

            "Wait a minute," Spike said, seeing that the small animal resting on his belly and panting affectionately was in fact the dog he'd nearly been killed retrieving. "_Ein_? How did you get here?" He patted the dog on the head and looked to his right at Jet, who was smiling broadly. 

            "Kind of a funny coincidence," Jet said. "I ran into them yesterday. There were in this hospital the whole time."

            "They? You mean…"

            "Well you didn't expect to find Ein by himself did you?" Jet said.

            All Spike saw was the flash of red hair fly out from the foot of the bed and land on his chest.

            "Hiyeee!" she said, landing squarely on his wound.

            _"Ed?"_

            "Surprise!" Edward said, blowing into a party horn and laying it on his head. The shock of seeing her had made Spike forget that she was lying on his injured abdomen, for a moment.

            "What are you… Ow, Ed, can you guys give me some room?" Spike said, trying to wiggle free as Ed laughed and blew a raspberry on his belly. She moved only enough to tickle Spike's exposed feet as Ein barked and licked his toes.

            "Okay, Ed, give Spike some room," Jet said.

            "O-kay!" Ed blurted, hopping off the bed and dancing around the room. She was dressed in a hospital gown and had a bandage around her head, Spike saw.

            "They showed up here just a few days before you did," Jet said. "There was an accident back on Earth with her father."

            "Is he dead?" Spike asked, grunting in pain as he finally managed to sit up.

            "No, his partner, McIntyre," Jet continued. "They were chasing meteors when Ed and Ein found them. They were surveying one site when another big one hit right where they were. McIntyre was killed in the explosion, and Ed was injured by some debris. Since her father had a bounty on him, he couldn't take her to a real hospital, so he brought her here. Then he vanished without a trace. Luckily, Ein found me before they both got taken away for not paying the bill. I convinced ISSP to pick up the tab for her, too."

            Ed's head popped up again. "So Ed is back on the _Bebop!_" she said. Ein barked his approval as Ed wiggled her exposed rear end at everyone in sight.

            "Great," Spike said, his sarcasm hiding his true delight. "At least it won't get boring."


	6. Get while the getting is good

            "Hey, give me some room, damn it," Faye grunted. Serj had already managed to cop several feels on her since the two had tried to cram themselves into the _Redtail._ She'd have punched him, if she had enough room.

            "Sorry," He said. His face bouncing off her breast.

            "I _can_ still throw you out, you know," she said, pushing him to the side as she fired the engines up. "You touch me again, and I'll hand you over to them myself." She planted an elbow to his jaw just to make sure he got the picture. 

            "Okay, okay. Sorry," Serj said. "Let's just go before they find us." 

            She lifted the _Redtail_ off as another car of syndicate thugs approached. A few stray bullets hit the ship but did no real damage. Handgun shells weren't strong enough to hurt the chassis.

            "You better hope the _Bebop_ is still close," Faye said, trying to get as much of the pilot seat to herself as possible. "I don't need a passenger."

            "Wait," Serj said, squirming and placing a hand squarely on her left butt cheek. "Did you say the _Bebop?_ Spike Spiegel's ship?"

            "He's not the only one on it, buster… Don't _touch_ me!" Faye said, giving him another well-placed elbow. "How do you know Spike?"

            "The syndicates are after him," Serj gasped. "Oh no, how could this get any worse? We can't hide from the syndicates. They're already going to be looking for him!"

            "Just shut up and sit down," Faye yelled, tiring of his mouth. Whatever he was talking about, she was sure she'd find out what the scoop was when she got back to the ship. 

            "Okay, Ed, don't forget to hack into the ISSP database and see what else you can find about this Serj Harashi," Jet barked into his comlink. "And let me know if you hear from Faye."

            "Okey dokey," Ed squeaked, doing cartwheels on her way to her terminal. "Aye aye, capyetan!" She saluted Jet with her foot and laughed at the sight of Ein, who she had wrapped in her hospital gown.

            Jet punched the throttle on the _Hammerhead_ as he left the deck of the _Bebop _and headed back toward the medical ship. He hadn't yet had time to reflect on how relieved he was to have Ed and Ein back. _The only real pet I'd ever had and the closest thing to a daughter I probably will ever have,_ he thought to himself. He'd often said that the Black Dog wasn't the type to settle down gracefully with a wife and kids, but Ed wasn't the kind of kid that allowed one to be graceful. Besides, If he was a guardian to Ed and Ein, he was nothing short of a babysitter to Spike and Faye. _More like a referee,_ he thought. But nobody ever said everyone's family was supposed to be normal.

            He docked with the medical frigate and checked his pistol one more time before getting out of his ship. No telling what could happen, even if Spike was registered under a fake name.


	7. Visiting hours

            As he headed toward Spike's room, Jet failed to notice the three men following him. The men kept their distance as Jet turned to go into the room.

            "All right, you guys know the job," one of the men said. "Take both of them out, and don't worry about making a mess of the place." The other men nodded as they turned the safeties off of their weapons.

            "So what name did you register me under?" Spike asked, finally able to sit up straight as he struggled to put his pants on.

            "Brian Jones," Jet said deadpan.

            "Brian Jones?" Spike repeated. "As in the one guy from the Stones who died young? Thanks for the good karma, Jet."

            "He was also the heart of the band," Jet snapped. "It was the first name that came to mind. Anyway, a couple more days and we're out of here. Doohan should be done with the _Swordfish _by then, too."

            "What's wrong with it?" 

            "You forgot that you should park your ship farther away from a building when you plan to blow it to hell. It got beat up pretty bad by debris. Nothing major, but it's not easy to find parts for that old relic."

            Spike put his feet on the floor and struggled to his feet. He managed to move a few steps before the pain in his abdomen forced him to brace himself on the wall. 

            "You really should stay in bed," Jet said, his nose still in his book. "No need to rush things."

            "You obviously don't know how much I hate hospitals," Spike replied, leaning on one of the empty beds as he examined the blood-stained mattress. "Even ones as shady as this one."

            "Yeah, well, better for you to heal here than to have you taking up precious cargo space on the _Bebop_." Jet quipped.

            "You know, you're all heart, Jet," Spike said between grunts of pain as he bent over to tie his shoes. "And I thought the only thing cold and artificial on you was that arm."

            The men approached the door quietly, their long coats hiding their weapons but not making them look less suspicious. A doctor approached the three nervously.

            "Can I help you gentlemen?" he asked, quivering slightly.

            The leader pulled out his shotgun and pumped a shell into the chamber, enjoying the terrified expression on the doctor's face.

            "No, thank you," he said. "We're just here to visit a friend."

            The doctor turned and sprinted down the hall as the man waved his comrades into the room first. Shinjo would pay handsomely for this hit, and if one or both of his partners happened to go down in the process, there would be more money for him.

            Jet noticed the doctor sprinting in front of the door out of the corner of his eye and put down his book, instinctively reaching for his gun.

            "What is it?" Spike asked. He had been trying to put his shirt on for several minutes. The shoes were painful enough, but this was too much. His view of the door was obscured as Jet ducked the gunfire and took cover behind the bed. Spike moved quickly, acting more on instinct than anything else, as he shoved the nearest bed into the path of the first two men, hitting one of them squarely in the ribs and knocking him into the second man.

            Jet took advantage of the opening and fired three shots into the third man through the door, the third shot catching him squarely between the eyes, causing his sunglasses to shatter in the middle and fly off his face. The other two men had no chance, as Spike emptied the clip from the gun Jet had slid to him across the floor, although the recoil hurt more than he had expected.

            Both of them sat in silence for a moment, eyes fixed on the doorway in case any more thugs were trailing behind. The two security officers who came to the door nearly met their fates, but fortunately Jet had put his gun down and Spike's weapon was empty.

            "What the hell's goin' on here?" blurted the officer, armed with a harmless-looking stun gun.

            "Uh, it's nothing," Jet replied calmly, pocketing his gun. "We were just leaving."

            Ed rubbed the dust off her goggles as she perused the ISSP's files on Serj Harashi. Ein sat comfortably on the couch as she hovered over her terminal on the floor. Ein's ears piqued at the sound of the communication channel beeping. "_Aloha_, Jet," Ed answered the beacon.

            "Ed, we're on our way back to the ship," Jet grunted as he helped Spike down the hall. "We'll be there in a few minutes, so open the hanger for us. I need you to watch and see if anyone is following us. And get ready to take off once we get on board."

            "Right!" Ed yelled as she rolled over and leaped to her feet. She headed to the cockpit and punched several buttons to prepare the _Bebop _for their arrival_._

            Jet squeezed forward into the _Hammerhead_ as he dislodged from the medical frigate and headed back to the ship. Even if no one else was after them, the medical frigate's security would no doubt call the local authorities to question them about the disturbance, and there was no point in wearing out the ISSP's hospitality so soon.

            "Anyone out there?" Jet asked into his radio, trying not to move around too much so he wouldn't cause Spike any unnecessary bumps.

            "Nopers!" Ed replied.

            "Good. We're coming in now. Get us ready to go."


End file.
